The invention relates, in general, to X-ray detectors, and more particularly, to a detector drawer for an X-ray detector, in which a mobility or advancement of the inserted X-ray detector in at least one direction is restricted.
Detector drawers for inserting X-ray detectors are used in X-ray examination equipment, or X-ray systems. X-ray systems have an X-ray source for generating X-rays that pass through a patient body to be examined radiologically and are then detected by an X-ray detector. The X-ray detector, either a conventional sheet film system or a digital detector, is positioned in the X-ray beam generated by the X-ray source. The positioning is done via a detector drawer into which the X-ray detector is placed and which is inserted, with the detector in place, into a receptacle of the X-ray system.
In Bucky systems, for example, the patient to be examined is positioned on a patient examination or supporting table and X-rays originating from an X-ray source disposed above the table pass through him. The receptacle for the detector drawer can be pulled out like a drawer so that the X-ray detector can be placed therein and is then pushed in again. The X-ray detector is thus positioned underneath the patient.
Currently available Bucky systems are usually still configured for analog X-ray detectors on the basis of sheet film systems, since digital X-ray detectors have only been available quite recently. From International Patent Disclosure WO 01/33921, it is disclosed that to convert a Bucky system designed for analog detectors into a digital system, a digital X-ray detector may be inserted into the receptacle of the patient examination table instead of the analog X-ray film cassette. As such, the detector is installed in an adaptively configured detector drawer. Both the detector drawer and the X-ray detector are adapted to one another. To make different picture-taking formats possible, such as landscape and portrait, the detector can be rotated in the detector drawer.
Desirably, one may want to use a commercially available portable digital X-ray detector that does not have to be a priori adapted to the detector drawer. Such detectors have an electric cable connection for supplying power and for transmitting the detector signals. The electrical cable should be taken into account when the detector is inserted into the detector drawer; the cable should not become kinked nor sheared off. The electrical cable can, therefore, be guided only in such a way as to extend out of the receptacle opening in the patient examination table. From there, the electrical cable may extend to a control unit for the X-ray system. Such trailing cable may present a potential risk of stumbling and be a hindrance to medical personnel walking up to or moving around the patient examination table. Depending on the intended examination, however, the capability of approaching the patient from all sides may be desirable.
In order to reach the patient from either side of the patient examination table to suit a given situation and to minimize encountering problems in manipulating the detector drawer, a patient examination table with a receptacle open on two sides for the insertion of the drawer is known from the X-ray system known as Uroskop D, made by Siemens A G. A system with a receptacle open on two sides is also disclosed in German Patent Disclosure DE 30 34 282. A detector drawer can be inserted from both opposite sides of the examination table into the receptacle open on those two sides. If a portable digital X-ray detector is used, the receptacle open on two sides may be used in such a way that the detector is inserted from one side of the examination table from which medical personnel do not have to approach the patient. One can thus be assured that the cable does not have to be in the way of the medical personnel.
Because of an asymmetrical outline of portable X-ray detectors, in which an actual detection field is not centered, substantially exact positioning of the detector in the X-ray beam may not be assured. Further, depending on an insertion direction or an associated orientation of the detector, the positioning may change.